As we gain, we lose.

I'm a 90s kid. That's what I got from the latest "Internet Explorer - Child of the 90s" commercial. You can watch it here (a very smart ad indeed. The amount of nostalgia marketing used is impeccable). I sung to them- boy bands like Nsync, A1, Backstreet Boys. I grew up slotting 10 cent coins into the public telephones, always remembering how chunky they felt in my small hands. I waited at least 5 minutes after turning on the modem to play Neopets on the internet. 

I recall how times were so much simpler when I was back in primary school. I'm not just saying this because kids have lesser burdens to carry, but it really was very much simpler. For one- Functionality. An Eraser was something you'd use to play Flip Over against your opponents' during recess, at the play grounds. Compare it to today where there are 3 types of Eraser Tools for different functions in a Photoshop App, that isn't even on my desktop, but on my portable device). 

For one- instancy. Our world is fast paced, immediate and now. We need to be connected 24/7 through emails/sms/mms/whatsapp. The list goes on. But back then, the only automatically motorized objects we had were sliding doors or washing machines. Now we even have dish washers that dry our plates. No wonder local hot spots like Hawker Centres can't keep up- because their unique selling point is in the authenticity of service, environment and food. Adding electronic mechanics to these places will damage the "old local" feel. 

Hawker Centres are losing its local flavour. Locals aren't cooking our local food, which is slightly ironic. The rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer in Singapore. It's becoming so globalized and fast paced that no local Singaporean holding a degree or even a diploma would want to work in as a hawker. Hence, we see the tradition of Father-passing-down-the-store-to-Son disappearing. Authentic recipes and practices are lost. In replace of these, we have food courts like Food Republic and Malaysia Boleh. They're fantastic representations of our own heritage, but still, only representations. 

With a totally pessimistic yet realistic view, I somehow think that there's only so much we can do to hold on to our past. While we gain, we lose. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Even our heritage, that gives us identity, will seemingly evolve over the years. "The only thing constant is Change." That being said, we shouldn't discount the fact that we have to try to preserve Hawker Centers, or rather, preserve the "idea" of it for the following generations.